Letters

Laugh lines: Hilarious article ["How
to Be Famous in Ten Easy Steps," by Keith Plocek, April 29]! Well written
and very well played! I have never been a fan of trendy clubs, nor am I impressed
by anyone famous -- their fame adds nothing to my quality of life.

But I have to admit that from now on whenever I pass a club with a line outside the door, I'll get a pretty big chuckle, thanks to the late Trent Steele. Even those who frequent these places have got to laugh at this one.

John C. O'Donnell
Houston

VIP-VIP hooray: Loved the "Famous" article! Used to play that game
myself
Dayna Steele Justiz
Houston

Who's exposing who? This is undeniably one of the most exaggerated articles I have yet to read -- not to mention that it is a load of crock! I was out on the night that this so-called producer character "Trent Steele" was downtown. I called him out on not being anyone famous.

His bodyguards and his women didn't fool me or anyone around me, either. All I could see was him losing his cool over and over again. In fact, his bodyguards were the ones doing all of the talking to convince me and others that he was famous and to get him into the clubs.

He honestly looked like a cheap ass trying to fool his way into the clubs. He probably got into most of them by causing more frustration for the workers who didn't want to deal with him and his posse, rather than on the premise that he was someone famous. I know because I followed him to see what kind of shit this guy was up to.

I've been around a lot of famous people who go out in Houston, and not a single one travels with a lot of bodyguards, women and camera guys!

Keith makes it seem like it was so easy. He doesn't mention how long it took him to get into some of these places.

Laura AllenHouston

Gotcha: What a great piece you did. I'm all about hearing stories of trickery
and deception. Thanks for the laughs.

Be sound,
Derek SollosiWebster

Reality check: I loved this story! Someone please make a movie of it. Or it could be a reality TV series with a different big city every week. I wish I could have been one of the hangers-on, or maybe the older but hot sugar mama.

Colleen Wolfe
Spring

Emmylou's Exception

Lighting up the festival: I hate to beat an old horse into the ground, but
I agree with what seems to be the majority of people who took in the 2004 International
Festival [Letters,
"Festering Fest," April 29].

There's one exception: the April 24 concert by Emmylou Harris. This was a great effort, one for the ages. The sun came out when she started to play and it stayed out for her entire performance of close to two hours. She played a lot of her old classics as well as a number of new compositions. In addition, she honored the many Texan singer-songwriters she has worked with throughout her career by performing their works.

John AndersHouston

RevCap's Revenge

Taxing issue: As the author of RevCap, I believe it would be appropriate for
you to become knowledgeable on the subject before issuing any further knee-jerk
commentary [Hair Balls, "Help
Wanted," April 29].

Al Hartman and Let The People Vote PAC did the hard work of getting the 20,000 petition signatures to get RevCap on the ballot. About 1,000 signers felt so strongly that they attached contribution checks. Al and the other LTPV people deserve the public's heartfelt thanks, rather than uninformed ridicule by the Press.

FYI, I am chairman of Citizens For Public Accountability, which was recently founded by some retired partners of Houston's accounting firms and includes Democrats, Republicans and independents. CPA's goal is to make nonpartisan facts available regarding the finances of Houston local governments, school districts and our state government.

I advise you to visit our Web site, www.citizensforpublicaccountability.com, and study its articles. There is a piece on one of your favorite gripes, term limits. I will be glad to publicly debate you on term limits if you feel so inclined.

Please let me know when you wish to hold an intelligent and fact-based discussion regarding RevCap.

Bob Lemer
Houston

Zoned Out

The time traveler: In the Night & Day picks ["April 15], Keith Plocek rags on the lyrics for the song "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere," saying "it doesn't take a genius to know that it can't be 5 p.m. anywhere when it's 12:30 p.m. somewhere else."

Consulting the Olson time zone database, it turns out that there are 12 time zones with offsets landing on the half-hour. Further calculations relative to those zones reveal 160 candidates out of 367 possible time zones for an offset such as the song suggests.

The next time I'm in Los Angeles in the winter, for example, I can enjoy a 12:30 toast to Jimmy Buffett down in St. John's, where he will no doubt be enjoying his favorite frozen concoction. Jimmy, on the other hand, will have to content himself with a lunchtime toast toward somewhere such as Budapest.